Down Came the Rain

A few nights before Maw left, we made a midnight (well, 8 p.m.) flashlight-raid on the basement and carved our initials hither and yon in patches of still-damp concrete. Mom inscribed her nickname along with Dad’s initials. I like having it there. But wait: what’s that damp spot encroaching?

All that strategizing and engineering to circumvent any potential troubles with drainage … man, do I hate what happens to best-laid plans.

Maybe Sumpy was slacking. Maybe we’ve got a heretofore undiscovered stream running beneath my house … whatever the reason, once the rain began the new room went all aquatic on us:

The river flowed east to west, from the basement across the new room and out toward the sliding glass doors:

Waterways need names, so I named this one after myself: Rio G-o. I went on a journey to find the headwaters, which I discovered behind a flattened cardboard box:

The river culminated in a body of water generally known as Lago Ginna-o:

It’s a singular wetland that gives rise to rare forms of life such as the long-stalked and colorful toolplant:

There’s no way anyone could have foreseen this situation. For years the runoff rainwater must have channeled invisibly beneath my foundation, only to appear when we dug down to its level.

I just hope this isn’t not a difficult or costly problem to solve.